I started reading this book and found that it was not for me. I didn't want to review a book that I didn't finish.

This is a profound book with a timely story. I enjoyed reading this for the historical story and learning more about WWII and what happened on the home front. This is a book that I will recommend for years to come because it is an important read.

'Block Seventeen' by Kimiko Guthrie is a story about a young woman named Jane who's struggling to build a life with her fiancé, Shiro, all while things seemingly grow more chaotic and discordant around them.

After a strange car accident, it's almost as if they're in the eye of a storm. Someone rifles through their apartment, taking nothing.. but leaving behind strangely stacked towers of items. Shiro's distrust of the government and his employers misdeeds continues to grow.. becoming a veritable force of its own. And to top it all off, her mother seems to have disappeared.. leaving only traces of existence through online locations.. the woman becoming increasingly more difficult to track down in the real world.

While Jane searches for her mother and struggles to manage the stressors of her environment, she delves into her family's history through the incarceration of Japanese Americans, exploring the effects.. both directly and indirectly, that have rippled ever outward from those moments of loss, fear, and humiliation in a country they called home.

As a woman with mixed Asian heritage, I really wanted to love this story.. but despite it's lofty goals, it just never reached me deeply.

Guthrie certainly has a way with words and does a lovely job telling the story of these lives as they're spiraling outwardly, but ultimately it just ends up feeling a bit pretentious. I get the impression the author is heavily inspired by Murakami. She seems to like to play with surrealism and parallel worlds.. and I did enjoy the way they appear to exist side by side for Jane, neither more important or more real than the other.

The story definitely deals with some terrible things. From the internment of our own citizens simply due to race, a distant war, and out of control paranoia.. to the breakdown of mental and emotional capacity.. to the tragic losses and decisions made in times of desperation, there are plenty of important topics covered here.

Structurally, though there's a non-linear aspect to the storytelling, the book moves fluidly and the prose is eloquent. The author does a wonderful job connecting her characters to the reader through what they're feeling even if there isn't necessarily a lot of common ground to draw upon. Jane and Shiro experience a uniquely situational journey that I think few of us could really relate to in all its sensationalism.. though I'm sure there are pieces here and there.. a bit close to our hearts.

At the end of the day though, the story feels as if ultimately it goes nowhere. We traverse the history of the family, watch as Jane explores the limits of her own ability to cope, but the end falls rather flat for me. There is no real sense of closure on any of the topics and I found myself feeling nearly as adrift as I did at the beginning.. only with a bit more understanding of those involved. I will say, I feel like this was the intention. I believe the author was writing far more about the journey itself than any destination and if that's the case, well done.. but if there's meant to be a point, it isn't clearly defined.

Despite the fact this story is intriguingly dark at points, it reads to me like someone's grand idea of what deep literature might be.. but in that sense.. it feels half-formed. Even the emotion, while likely muted to match the self-repressive nature of the main character.. comes across like fingertips skirting the edge of a wound.. never daring to dip into the center of the pain while practically telling us at every turn that she's drowning in it.

Did I enjoy it? Yes.. actually. But it's still a tale that plateaus. I think the author could have literally chosen just about any chapter to signal the end of the story and I wouldn't have felt any more uncertain that it had been told to its conclusion.

I think it's worth a risk for those interested in exploring a little taste of the effects our internal political choices as a nation can have on our own people, the way our personal life decisions can affect us long term as individuals, or for those who just enjoy sort of.. meandering writings with little sense of direction. As I said, it's pretty enough.. I just like a bit more substance if an author chooses to take on a tougher subject, than this one provides.

Rep: Japanese

TW: death of a child, internment camps

Unfortunately, I really struggled with this book. It had such an interesting premise, but I wasn’t a fan of the unreliable narrator trope. I also didn’t like the writing style very much; the author was very repetitive in her attempts to state the obvious. The character interactions and conversations were very strange to me – I just found them too unbelievable and forced. The plot meandered far too much to keep my interest, so even though the story had a point to it, I just couldn’t bring myself to care by the time I got to the end.

Part historic impressions of life in an interment camp for Japanese US citizens, part dream like search for a mother who may or may not only exists online and part relation ship story. Very intriguing.

‘Block Seventeen’ is an engrossing, unique novel. The main story is told by Jane, a half-Japanese/half-white, woman in her 30s living in the Bay area with her fiancé, Shiro. There is a second timeline story set in the 1940s that details her mother’s life living in an internment camp for the Japanese in Arkansas. The trauma from her family’s past still affects Jane and her family through the present-day. This was what I found most fascinating and compelling. While reading, it is unclear what is actually happening as we hear from Jane’s perspective, and she is slowly losing grip with reality. But piece by piece, we learn what has happened to Jane present-day and to her mother in the 1940s. This was such a captivating novel that reminds us of the dark history of the United States that still affects living families.

Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing this ARC.

WOW.

This book to me was weird at the beginning I couldn't tell who the narrator was or whether they were reliable. But, I must say this book covers really tough topics in a way that I approve of! Our main character had to deal with mental illness, generational oppression, racism, self-hatred, and so much more. Though this book could be read in a superficial manner there are so many lessons that people can learn. I think this was excellently written and I can wait to read more from this author.

I enjoyed the setting and the peek into Japanese culture. I felt like the actual plot was very disjointed. There was a lot going on but I felt like nothing was really explored and a lot of threads got dropped. I kept feeling like the storylines would all converge at some point and make sense but they really didn't. I feel like it would have made a better short story collection where the stories were connected but not part of a whole.

Akiko Thompson, the narrator in Kimiko Guthrie’s debut novel Block Seventeen, is the daughter of a Japanese-American mother and a white American father. Just like her mother, she is not particularly keen on her Asian heritage, so much so that in her teenage years she gave up the name “Akiko” for the plainer “Jane”. Shiro, her partner of five years and the father of the child to whom Jane is telling the story, is quite the opposite. Born to a Japanese-American family, he is obsessed with the injustice suffered by his ancestors during the Second World War when, despite their patriotism and US citizenship, their fields and businesses were forcefully taken and they were sent to internment camps. Shiro, who is employed with the TSA, is convinced that the same sort of injustice is being perpetrated in present-day America. He is intent on turning whistle-blower and revealing the everyday racism of the organisation which employs him.

We learn that, through a strange coincidence (or twist of fate?) Akiko and Shiro’s families were in the same internment camp. But their approach to this painful episode in their families’ past couldn’t be more different. Akiko tends to play down these dark events by pragmatically trying to fit in. In Shiro, the collective memory spurs waves of righteous indignation. This friction starts taking its toll on their relationship.

But are painful memories so easy to suppress? In Block Seventeen the past haunts the protagonists’ present, both figuratively and literally. Jane and Shiro face a series of uncanny events, some of which can be easily explained away, others less so. These strange occurrences all seem to be prodding Jane into facing her past – not only her own, but also the “collective memory” of her family and fellow Asians.

The result is a novel which hovers playfully between psychological thriller, magical realism and supernatural fiction. The mix isn’t always convincing and there are certain aspects of the story which remain frustratingly hazy. But Akiko’s endearing voice and wry sense of humour pull the novel through. I also found Japanese-American perspective very interesting, shedding light on a dark chapter in 20th Century history which I, for one, was unfamiliar with.

This just wasn’t for me, I felt like I was totally missing the point the point of the book. There were too many pieces that didn’t seem to fit - the boyfriend who thinks his job is spying on him, the friend whose husband has left her, the distant mother, a strange “break-in” that probably isn’t, internment camps. Maybe it all pulls together at some point, but I read the last chapter and it still seems disjointed. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

*I was given an ARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. * (Review from Goodreads)

I don't know what I was expecting from this book, but I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed this unique little book.

We follow Jane (whose real name is Akiko), a half Japanese/half white American woman on her quest to locate her missing mother, who seems to only exists through the internet. Of course, without giving away any spoilers, the story blossoms into much more than just a disappearance mystery, and through lyrical prose covers the complexities of Japanese history, biracial identity, and generational trauma.

Guthrie does, in my opinion, an incredible job at using the mythical elements of this book to illustrate some of the psychological torment faced by Jane and her mother. I also especially appreciated the heavy influence of Japanese-Buddhist spirituality because I learned a lot and it made me want to look into more books covering this topic.

This book also seemed to be well researched on the histories of Japanese-Americans who experienced the internment camps 1940s. I really appreciated the parallels of how Jane's mother Sumi and Jane's fiance Shiro's family remember Camp, which added to the commentary on assimilation vs. cultural preservation.

The one thing that knocked a star off this book was the discussion of technology and its control on human life. I thought this was quite an interesting topic to write into the story and actually appreciated its inclusion in this book. I thought that this conversation about false liberation (or perhaps real liberation) through technology would explain some of the actions of Jane's mother. However, in the later part of the book, Guthrie barely touched on technology, and so it felt sort of like a weird/ unnecessary addition to the story. I had no clue what was ultimately being said on technology and wished that there was a more clear connection to the main themes of the novel.

I feel that this is a book that would not be for everyone, but it happened to really work for me. If you are into intricate stories about family histories and relationships, I would definitely check this one out.

Yes, I love psychological fiction like this! Block Seventeen is a deep look at generational trauma and the complicated feelings of ethnicity/nationality in this country. The mystery and the paranoia kept me flying through these chapters, aided by the straight forward writing. The narrator is a bit unlikeable and unreliable, but that just adds to the mystery of why their house is broken into, where her mother went, what her boyfriend is uncovering within the TSA. Highly recommend if you like slow burn thrillers.

I found it hard to get into this story and connect with the characters. I read up until chapter 10 and couldn’t read anymore. This book is somewhat dark, gritty, and used more “f” bombs and other cuss words than I felt necessary to the story line. If you like to read this type of book you might like it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Nora St. Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins!
The Book Club Network www.bookfun.org

Do not be confused: this is not a "thriller", as I went into this book thinking. It is rather a surreal, psychological study of history and cycles of familial trauma. I usually spend the next paragraph of my reviews providing a brief summary of the book, but for this one, I don't think I can say any more than what's given in the blurb already without spoiling anything or writing in clearly enough to get anything meaningful across. So let's jump right in:

Guthrie's style is clear and concise with passing moments of beautiful prose. Her dialogue is commendable; it is incredibly natural and develops character well. The story itself was reminiscent of other modern Japanese literature (Murakami, as others have noted), but better suited for an American audience structurally. It was so close to being intelligent literary fiction -- the kind that makes you think, that makes you proud when you make accurate inferences and connections.

However, where Guthrie missed the mark is understanding her audience. I'm not sure "the masses" are going to seek this book out, so it'll likely get a niche market upon publication. The themes are complex and sophisticated, so to understand and to get anything of meaning from this book, you have to think. But the author misjudges her audience and their intellect by over-explaining and even occasionally overtly stating devices or developments that the audience will clearly understand. I'm not sure she trusted her own clarity in her writing, or perhaps an editor suggested making certain ideas clearer. But motifs, metaphors, irony will bang you over the head, and then Guthrie will tell you all about it. Just in case you missed it.

If you like Haruki Murakami's work or Toni Morrison's Beloved (because this is essentially a retelling of that novel with the same themes and everything), you'll love this one. It might be a little too tough for my high school audience.

Akiko, who is also known as Jane, narrates this dreamy dialogue with her unborn child. Set in both present day San Francisco, where she lives with Shiro, and Block 17, a WWII internment camp in Arkansas, its a tale about family and mental illness, wrapped up in conspiracy. Shiro, who works for TSA, believes in conspiracies and now Jane's mother has gone physically missing, but remains present in cyberspace. There's a touch of Buddhist tradition (I found myself seeking more information), there's history placed in a personal context, and there's Jane- our unreliable narrator who is in a spin. Parts of this felt overwritten to me (a paring away might have increased impact) but I found myself fascinated by the characters. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A nice debut for fans of literary fiction.

Mythology, mystery, and memory combine in an ephemeral tale of a woman whose marriage, life, and sanity seems to be unraveling. Guthrie has an excellent way of setting a scene, very effortless and descriptive. The plot is intriguingly hard to grasp- with conspiracies, mysterious intruders, a missing person (maybe?), and ties to a shameful time in America's past- the Japanese Internment camps.
The story is a bit of a trip, but I liked the puzzle piece format of the narrative, and the unique way of telling Jane's story.

So, I finished this book, and now I feel a sense of loss.

Well, this book was a difficult read in the beginning. A strange book ___you don't know whether you like it or not; or you don't really understand what going on so you find it a little tiring but you don't want to leave it unfinished {Even though you are a very impatient reader} because it's quirky and there's something about the writing style. That kind of book! But I am so glad I stayed patient while reading this book because it turned out to be a good, mysterious, poignant and heartbreaking read. And very engrossing (well, after 25%).

The book tells two parallel stories ___One set in 2012 and another set in 1937-43 with a backdrop of World War (which infrequently appears for short moments but very important). As I said, there's something about the writing style ___it's, as the blurb says, melodic. Creates vivid imagery. The characters are so distinctly different and significant, even though they appear for a brief moment. The narration so engaging, and after certain point, it turns unreliable and that makes you curious.

Overall, I really liked it. Going to write a full review on my blog.

This book was really well written but i felt a lack of connection with the characters. I felt like i couldn't entirely focus and enjoy the story because of this. Still the story was enjoyable and i'm curious to read other books by this author.

Wow, this book spooked the sh*t out of me! I was completely disoriented while reading it; talk about an unreliable narrator! A multi-generational look at the wounds left behind by our unwillingness to talk about the trauma, as well as the traumas themselves, this book is happy to simply offer up these complex and searching questions with no hope of succor. Where has Jane's mother gone? What happened to the deer? Who is making little towers all over her apartment? Has the traumas suffered by Jane's family in the American interment camps somehow become a part of her life? This book was a disconsolate and haunting look at adulthood, denial, and mental illness, as well the prices we all pay to become the older versions of ourselves.

Any book that addresses the Japanese internment and adds to the genre of literature on this subject will get a favorable response from me. It's important to have a variety of approaches into the understanding of this period of history. That said, the style of this book wasn't for me and I felt like the author tried to do too much at once. However, I am glad that this book has been written and published.